P

O

V

E

R

T

Y How can millions of

dollars only buy bread?

What is Poverty?

“Poverty is restriction

and as such, it is the

greatest injustice you can

perpetrate upon yourself”

– Azim Premji

For the 1.9 billion children from

the developing world, there are:

640 million without adequate

shelter (1 in 3)

400 million with no access to

safe water (1 in 5)

270 million with no access to

health services (1 in 7)

Did you know?

Poverty is the lack of basic everyday materials such as food, clean water, nutrition,

clothing, shelter and education because of the lack of income.

Poverty exists and it was caused.

Many things contributed towards it.

Wars, disease, transformations in our

economic structure and the lack of

finance, income, and education are

just a few possible causes to poverty.

Causes

“Poverty is the worst

form of violence”

-Mohandas Gandhi

The poorest 40% of the world account

for 5% of the world’s income where as

the richest 20% account for 75%.

Less than 1% of what the world spent

on weapons was needed to put every

child in school by 2000.

Did you Know?

Do You Know Someone in

Destitution?

Can people survive on two dollars a

day?

Population: 12,084,304 Life Expectation: 49.9 yrs People with HIV: 1.2 Mil. Location: Southern Africa

between South Africa and

Zambia Capital City: Harare Unemployment: 95% Pop. Below Poverty Line:

68%

Zimbabwe is named after great historical

structures called “Great Zimbabwe.” For

thousands of years it has experienced eco-

nomic and social problems. Drastic meas-

ures must be taken just to begin to stabi-

lize the situation. HIV/AIDS is huge prob-

lem like it is in many African countries,

killing millions and exhausting Zim-

babwe’s human resource.

Did you know?

Every year 6 million children die from

malnutrition before the age of five.

Every 3.6 seconds another person in

Africa dies of starvation, the majority

of which are children under 5 years old

Zimbabwe is experiencing a rare economic condition of hyperinflation. Hyperin-

flation is when the value of goods or services is relatively the same but the price

that is paid for them is incredibly higher. This type of inflation is rare and is so

severe it is completely out of control.

Kundai Makumbe is a 15 year old boy who is forced to manage a street corner

market stall instead of attending school with a dwindling number of children.

Due to extreme cases of pov-

erty Kundai was basically

thrown out of his home and

told that he must take care of

himself. His lack of knowl-

edge severely limited his op-

tions in terms of what he

could do to make money. At

one point Zimbabwe’s public

education was revered as one

of the best in Africa but now struggles to meet

world standards. Public schooling is rather inex-

pensive costing only 3-23 U.S. dollars but when a

factory worker’s wage is only 77 U.S. dollars this

is still often quite hard to pay for this and still

manage the family’s rent. The likelihood of many

of Kundai’s classmates to dropout of school and

join him in simply trying to make enough to get by

is very high. These sad facts add up and scream for

a reform of the government to help return Zim-

babwe’s public education system back to its former

glory.

Who is affected?

Did you know?

20% of the country has

fled since the hyperin-

flation has begun.

From 1990 to 2003 the

poverty rate rose from

25% to 63%.

Inner city kids are coming to school

everyday with one uniform to their

name, no school supplies, no food in

their stomachs so teachers are paying

out of their own pocket to help by chil-

dren clothes food and school supplies.

Children are most vulnerable because

most are not old enough to help them-

selves. They cannot get a job to pay

for their own food or clothing. Chil-

dren require the aid of their parents or

other adults to help them simply get by

in life.

Did You Know ?

Nearly a billion people entered the

21st century without knowing how to

read or sign their own name.

More then 80 percent of the worlds

population are living in countries

where the income differentials are

widening.

Why Children?

REACH OUT AND GIVE TO OTHERS.

FEEDING AMERICA– www.feedingamerica.org

PROJECT BREAD– www.projectbread.org

KIVA– www.kiva.org

ONE– www.one.org

OXFAM– www.oxfam.org

MEALS ON WHEELS– www.mowaa.org

MERCY CORPS– www.mercycorps.org

THE HUNGER SITE– www.thp.org